Recycling Old Plantation Shutters After New Ones Are Installed

Congratulations on your decision to order new plantation shutters for your windows. You already love that plantation shutters have no corded mechanisms, so you never have to worry about them being a strangulation threat to your child. The fact your shutters are mounted flush against the inside frame of your window means they give much more control than curtains or blinds when it comes to letting in light. But, what do you do with your old plantation shutters? Don't throw them out! Try these two ideas to recycle them into your home instead.

Bulletin Board/Display

Take one of the old plantation shutters and paint it in a colour that complements the decor of the room you want to place it in. Once the paint is dry, you can fix it to the wall using a screw in each corner. Because of the weight of the shutters, you will need to make sure it is properly secured to the wall so there is no risk of it falling off onto a person or animal. To do this, you have two options to make sure it is firmly kept in place. Either make sure it is screwed into a wall stud, and a stud finder purchased at your hardware store is the easiest way to find them, or use wall plugs in the drilled wall hole as they give the screw something to grip onto.

Once the shutter is on the wall, you can use wooden clothes pegs to clip photographs, recipes, or important notes onto the shutter louvres. This is a rustic display board that looks great in both kitchens and offices.

Furniture

Another use for your old plantation shutters is to make them into furniture items that can be used around the home, and you are only limited by your imagination as to what you can do with them.

• One shutter sitting on top of two mounted wall brackets makes a useful shelf.
• Use two shutters to create the sides of a bookcase. You can use additional shutters to create the shelves, top and bottom of the case, or you can use other recycled timber you have in your home.
• Use four shutters to create the four sides of a bedside table. You can then use solid timber for the top and bottom so you have a flat surface to put your lamp on.

You can find specific plans for turning your shutters into furniture at social media sites that share craft projects. All you need for many of these projects is an artistic imagination, a hammer, and some nails to join the wood together.

Don't throw out your old plantation shutters just because you have new ones as there are so many ways you can reuse them in your home, and by doing so you'll be reducing the amount of waste that gets added to your local landfill.